Darren gives Glenn
a dressing down

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH

Adelaide: Australia are not used to defeat these days and Darren Lehmann showed his anger at his side’s failure to make it 4-0 against England in Perth with a public dressing down of all-rounder Glenn Maxwell.

Lehmann welcomes back captain Michael Clarke and all-rounder Shane Watson in Adelaide on Sunday for the final ODI on Australia Day. He expects a better performance from his batsmen who were bowled out for 259 on Friday, losing their last five wickets for 37, as England won at the Waca by 57 runs to stop a run of nine defeats.

“It got down to 95 off 11 or 12 (overs) and in this day and age you should get those,” Lehmann said. “Disappointing to lose five for 50 or whatever it was and fall short. So our blokes – and Maxwell – he’s got to understand, we’ve got to play better cricket.”

There is a hard edge to Lehmann to contrast the joke-a-day, relaxed persona who has reinvigorated Australian cricket within six months. Maxwell, nicknamed the Big Show, has bowled well for Australia against England and showed some flashy improvisation in making a jaunty half century in Brisbane, but Lehmann clearly senses a young cricketer who needs a public telling off now and then.

“He (Maxwell) understands he has got to be a better cricketer for us to get to where we want to get to. He’s got the talent, but the way we want him to play, he’s got to finish those games off for us. He’s a great young kid and the thing is he realised his mistake from last night and he owned up to that. He’s got to get better.